Idea is simple.
At the moment, we have a one DP role in occupation preferences, right?
DPs have two options of round:
Be a transport Pilot;
Be a CAS Pilot.
Very simple, very good.
I rolled a DP, there is a second DP and…
“I wanna be on CAS today.”
“Oi, I wanna be on CAS too!”
So, what I’m trying to say: What about splitting DP roles in occupation preferences in two ways - DP CAS and DP trasport?
Why is it good:
No more awkward moments when both pilots want to play on CAS/Transport;
No more cryo’d DPs, who just don’t get their CAS/Transport (Imagine that you have a plan for this round, but you are out of luck and your preferred playstyle is already taken. What do you do - will play on remaining option? I don’t think so, it’s not a spec role or rifleman to just play on “remaining option”).
Why is it bad:
“REEEEEEEEEEE, WE HAVE ONLY CAS PILOT, HOW WE WILL DEPLOY ON FOB???”
It just makes sense. PO is the only role that’s basically a “me first” thing besides maybe a deploying doc. Rarely want to latejoin as PO because of it.
I honestly would love to play PO more, but I just can’t, because I don’t want to sit and press 2 buttons (Now 1 button) over and over for two hours while watching breaking bad in the background, because someone called dibs on CAS before me.
It’s already ‘We have only CAS pilot’ because most of the transport pilots I see cryo after someone else calls dibs.
I think doing this would just make it so that we’d never have a transport PO. I feel partially the reason why people are “Cas cas! Me me!” is in part due to the fact that transport is, as @Dionysus said, pressing the same two buttons again and again until you evac or the round is won.
I’ve played countless rounds where I join as a PO trying to cas but give it up to let another guy have fun, and get stuck in the Alamo tabbing out and doing other things or watching a movie while I wait for the time to end and me to be able to press a button again.
Sure throwing in medevac or fulton adds the intensity of a few more button presses, but to be honest I think the real issue lies in just how boring transport PO is. Why is it a role?
I say we should reinvent the transport PO and allow him to do more than just send the ship to the ground or back up to the Almayer. No I’m not saying give him cas abilities, but what I am saying is implement a mechanic unique to the transport PO that can let him continuously do more while also running transport missions.
My suggestion? Supplies and construction. Add printable ‘construction’ modules that can be loaded onto the Alamo’s internal hardpoints and then deployed onto a set of coordinates or a signal. These can only be deployed within a certain radius of the LZ and offer some support for the FOB.
I’m thinking things like guard towers, machine gun nests (deploys a defended machine gun position), flags, bunkers, sentries, etc etc. The amount of things you could do with this are endless and it allows the transport PO more fun in the round while serving more of a purpose outside of just replacing the automatic deployment system
Plus, if the round is low on engies, or the FOB is in dire need of reinforcement, the transport PO can feel more at use than heading groundside and waiting to lock the doors.
I think the split idea is fine, it allows people to know what they’re signing up for going in.
But unless Transport PO evolves from button pressing simulator it’ll become a null role that will be unplayed when people can just roll for CAS and if they don’t get it, play something else entirely.
I’d say do an overhaul that includes the split selection system and gives the transport PO something more. Honestly, Auxiliary support is due for a good update anyhow.
I agree, the concept of splitting roles is a good idea on paper at very least and I think it should be something the dev team should consider in a TM.
But my thinking doesn’t stop there. Why not include the medical department too? The FOB or field doctor is usually claimed in the same way and I wouldn’t complain if there was a dedicated role to that with only a changed title. Would be nice to at least consider.
This could also be applied to MTs but I suspect it will be a less supported idea when compared to these ideas.
Could be applied to the SOs too. I always wondered why the server doesn’t have a dedicated Field Officer role, but it would be very cool to see. Someone who deploys groundside to provide better leadership and coordination to groundside forces. To be honest, I’m not even really sure why it doesn’t exist already, even in the real world counterpart you would have one person who’s in ‘command’ of the groundside operations that then reports back to the overseeing officers and ensures that proper orders are being carried out.
We see this whenever an SO decides to deploy, but why not just make it it’s own given role?
“Better leadership and coordination.” It is a complete meme to say. What I think you mean is. We see SO’s going off to Unga with the front with better skills. (There are exceptions to this statement. But it is the norm, to be honest here. I can name the SO’s that attempts to keep ungas coordinated on one hand.)
Even if most SO’s were actually good leaders and not just primarily mostly silent NPC’s with an MK1 and the ability to use points to direct the Marines to places they were already going. We have actual leadership on the ground. In general, I’ll go down or send SO’s down when initial leadership fails or gets killed to make up for the loss or if there’s a general lack of something that a CIC person COULD cover.
My point is this. You do not want too many cooks in a kitchen, and given you really can’t micromanage marines with a lot of success.
Reverse Rappel (it’s an IRL thing with an IRL name, but i forgor :skul:)
self-explanatory, unga pops flare, pilot press button, rope drops, marines all use rope, after 3 seconds marines are hooked onto rope, and can escape from benos
Let’s say the marines are being flanked, and the Alamo is sitting around at the FOB. The pilot, knowing the marines are about to get flanked, holds the Alamo groundside to line up the cooldown (and has the reverse rappel thingy).
The marines get completely encircled, so one of them calls for the pilot. Alamo takes off, immediately puts up the rope, marines evacuate. Very cool.
Definitely will not solve the core problem of bored POs, but will give marines a “final chance” while doing that stereotype helicopter escape thing you see in the movies and video games
Marines should be able to buckle others to the rope, and once you’re on it, there should be a 5 second window where you can still be slashed (no crazy funky rappel-shoot-escape shit on my watch)